The Jewish Purging of a Small German Town

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Through the analysis of 10 oral testimonies from local residents and previously undocumented letters between a Jewish Holocaust survivor and her gentile friend, this work offers new insights into the Nazi persecution of Jews in small German towns. Maria R. Boes reflects on her upbringing in Salmünster, revealing the fate of Jewish residents after the Nazis rose to power in 1933—a narrative that has long been silenced. She traces the town's unsettling transformation from a harmonious community to one where, after initial resistance, persecution escalated from boycotting stores to various acts of violence against Jewish residents. By 1937, Jewish individuals were purged from the town without paramilitary intervention or external force, preceding the 1938 Kristallnacht and similar expulsions in larger cities. The work also highlights how Salmünster and neighboring towns continued to deny the historical presence of their Jewish residents long after the war and the defeat of the Nazis. This microhistory serves as an illuminating study of how small towns played a crucial role in the Nazi agenda to remove Jewish residents, ultimately aiming to erase their existence.